30 Day Baseball Card Challenge

Saturday, June 8, 2013

One Heckuva Play @ The Plate!

1977 Topps #640

This card is epitomizes baseball's classic play at the plate.  Great photo.  Red Sox vs. Yankees.  Randolph vs. Fisk.  Seriously... this card is awesome.  

What makes this card even cooler is the fact that it was once owned by a gentleman who specializes in cardboard featuring runners encountering catchers on the diamond... Mr. Play at the Plate, himself.

I recently won this 2013 Topps rack pack in one of his contests:



I'll try to bust the pack open a little later and show off the key cards either below or later this weekend.

In the meantime, I want you guys to see the other cards that arrived in the package he sent me.  After he pulled this sweet Yoenis Cespedes manufactured patch, we worked out a trade that would be mutually beneficial to our collections.

2013 Topps Commemorative Patch #CP18

Everything else you're about to see (including the Fisk at the top) are very generous bonus cards.  Let's start off with this...


2012 Bowman Platinum Emerald #21

It almost seems like the emerald background was made for the Oakland Athletics in this set.  

Plus he added these parallels too...



Another emerald Athletic.  This time it's their lefty set-up man, Sean Doolittle plus a bunch of blue bordered parallels from this year's set.  But it doesn't end there.

He also added this Eric Chavez jersey card...


2002 Fleer Authentix Jersey AuthenTIX #JAEC

And finally, probably my favorite card out of the lot...


2009 Topps Legends Commemorative Patch #LPR132

There's something cool about seeing Reggie in the old school Oakland A's uniform.  This was a very cool, yet unexpected surprise.

Thanks Brian for the nice bonus.  I'm glad we were able to work out a trade.  I'll have to gather up some Rangers for you to try and even things up.

As for everyone else, I've gotta ask...

What are some of your favorite cards featuring plays at the plate?


Happy Saturday and sayonara!

Extra Innings...

I finally busted open the 2013 Topps rack pack and was very happy with what I found...



I knew I was going to pull three blue borders and I ended up finding the one I wanted the most... The Reddick.


In addition to the three A's inserts/parallels, I also pulled these six inserts/parallels.  This was definitely an A's and Yankees hot pack.

Thanks again Brian!

22 comments:

  1. Definitely 1971 Topps Thurman Munson.

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  2. 2013 Ben Zobrist. I think he killed that guy.

    If you want some more A's cards, maybe we should work out a trade sometime.

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    1. Sounds awesome. Btw... you won last month's contest. Email me your address and I'll ship out your prize package.

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  3. You just showed my all-time favorite play at the plate card. I've liked it ever since I pulled it out of a pack as an 11-year-old.

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    1. I remember reading one of your posts with this card in it. And I'm pretty sure PATP even referenced you about this card in one of his posts.

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  4. I'm with the Lost Collector, the Munson is my favorite. The Fisk is definitely in my Top 5, though. Which gives me an idea for a post...

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  5. While I am not always a fan of manu-patch cards, both of those are pretty cool, with the Elephant Cespedes especially nice.

    The 1987 Topps Kevin Mitchell card has always been a favorite. It is the first one that came to mind, so I will go with my gut.

    http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51NfZdsTndL._SL500_AA300_.jpg

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    1. Great pick! I remember chasing down that card back in the late 80's.

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  6. Oh, and A's cards in the emerald shimmer look fantastic. They also look good in the Walmart blue, which I didn't expect to be true.

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  7. No wonder I sometimes feel like my collection lacks substance, I only have one play at the plate card. Eek!
    Although the one I do have is card 282 from the 2002 Upper Deck "Vintage" set, I have no idea what this set is, and the card features Posada tagging the runner at home plate after Derek Jeter made "the flip" in the ALDS game against Oakland.
    Oddly enough the card only mentions how Posada hit a home run in that game but, meh, it's still a great moment showing one of the greatest postseason plays in history.
    And as I was typing that I realized that I'm about to leave this comment on an Oakland A's fans' blog. Ah well... ^_^;

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    1. Thanks for the memories... this marked the peak of my Yankees hatred.

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  8. 2013 Topps Opening Day Carlos Quentin is a pretty awesome PATP card. Plus, the Padres are wearing their retro uniforms, so there's some sweet brown and orange in the shot. Steve Finley and Gary Carter had a cool PATP card in 1992 Triple Play as well, but The Kid had a bunch of killer PATP cards.

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    1. I looked all over YouTube for a video of the Quentin play. Kinda makes you wince and feel for Thole... hope he was okay. And thanks for sharing the 1992 Triple Play card. I don't think I had ever seen it... but it was definitely awesome!

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  9. I'm with Marcus - gary carter had some good ones like 1980 Topps, 93 Topps, 93 ud, and 93 score select. The 91 Topps fisk is a classic, of course, as is the 71 munson.

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    1. Thanks for the scavenger hunt... I'm off to COMC to check out some of these Carters. Btw... love the 91 Fisk card too.

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  10. I'm partial to this play at the plate card, though the '71 Munson and the Fisk/Randolph are great as well.

    http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Zyxs5_i8yZw/TnOXj38YPcI/AAAAAAAAB5s/wUTyWJLyfMI/s1600/Russ+Martin+Yellow+Stadium+Plate.jpg

    Oh, and that Yoenis manufactured patch is sweeeeeet.

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    1. Nice card. I'd be partial to it too... if that card were sitting in my collection.

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  11. Glad you liked the cards. There are so many great PATP cards it's hard to pick. Top three off the top of my head are the Munson, the Fisk above and the 1986 Topps Fisk with Cecil Fielder bearing down on him.

    Thanks Fuji!!

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    1. Didn't like them... I loved them. Thanks again.

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  12. I think it's pretty clear that Willie was safe, and the Yankees won.

    I'm sure it's been said a dozen times already, but '71 Munson is my all time fav.

    The '87 Kevin Mitchell is sort of cool, especially since he wasn't a catcher. Not sure it was much of a "play" though.

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